Posts by Franco428

I have been playing an unusual Space based game called "Protostar." Besides collecting equipment and raw materials, you also collect crew members along the way. The final battle comes after you've collected an alien artifact which is a most powerful weapon. The graphics are good for the time period the game was made. It seems that every other Space based game was based on "Protostar." If you can find it and a computer to run it, you will not be disappointed.

Personal note: I apologize for my extended absence from this server. I had eleven surgeries on my spine and still need at least one more. When you've experienced pain to the point of lightning bolts shooting out your rear end, then you have an idea why I had no interest in using the computer for games lately. May none of you have the same experiences. God Bless you all! Franco428

I find it very unusual that Pluto has four moons and is call a Dwarf Planet. Sure it's smaller than the other planets, but making up a new category to justify personal prejudice in stellar geography is a waste of time and paper. Now, they have looked at Mercury and decided that it's only the core of a rocky planet which is all that is left. It's not even a whole planet by their own standards, so what do we call Mercury now? It is obvious that planetary scientists do not have enough work on their desks since they need to make stuff up to argue about. When NASA said they were going to let Hubble burn up because it was old and no longer worth the time and efforts to keep it going, I suggested to them to attach it to the International Space Station (ISS) for those guys to play with. In the mid 1990's I suggested to NASA to take the External Fuel containers on the Shuttle into orbit and connect them all together to make a big net for space junk. Now, NASA needs an extra Billion dollars a year to defend our satellites and the ISS from space debris. It seems that only bureaucrats can have good ideas. I also gave NASA a second idea for the connected External Fuel Tanks, which was to stretch a reflecting Mylar sheet across them and use that side to shine the Sun down on Earth for; Search & Rescue operations; Disaster relief operations; Special Events or Emergencies that need more daylight. The response I got from NASA was that my ideas were not practical and I should stick with something I am more familiar with. It seems that every country has Bureaucrats that give it's citizens cases of the Galloping-Trots because they themselves cannot think outside the box. Personally, I think they all have their ties tied too tight! I know a lot more about NASA Bureaucrats than they may realize. My Dad built tracking stations all over this planet for them and he liked to do things "the correct way," the first time. He told me that one NASA official kept extending one project's deadline because he could not decide which side he wanted a wall-mounted phone placed. My Dad finally put in a phone on both sides of the console just to get back on schedule. The "NASA Official" was outraged because he did not get to decide where the phone would go or what color they were going to use. Sort of reminds me of our US Congress. I sure am glad that our US Congress did not have to decide what to call Pluto. Who knows what they would have come up with, but whatever it would be, it would cost the taxpayers a lot of money to do it. If it has four moons, it is a planet plain and simple. I certainly do hope that they find some interesting stuff on Pluto, like old ruins or "Flight 19." That would be awesome for everyone.

After playing Freelancer and many of the MODs, specifically the Crossfire MOD, how could anyone NOT vote a "10" for our excellent Crossfire 1.9 MOD.

Although I am currently hindered from playing very often ( old age and medical issues ) I will gladly wait for the 2.0 MOD to reveal itself with all the hard work so many have put in to it. Those of you who have worked on the 2.0 project know who are responsible for the majority of the work, hopefully they will get their rewards when the happy posts about 2.0 start coming in.

For me, I am proud to say that I've been playing Freelancer for just over 10 years now. In all it's forms as MODs, Freelancer has become a place in time most of us would love to be in for real. We may have more wingmen and extra hardmounts, but gaining the skills to fly all over our Galaxy would be the best job ever. I may be too old to see hyperspace flight, but there are some of you who stand an excellent chance of standing on another planet and writing you name in the snow. Sorry ladies, you'll have to use a stick!

The new games coming out either are too complicated in their controls, or they just cannot keep the thrill alive long enough. Crossfire MODS have kept me happy for at least five years. I feel it's okay to play some other MOD just to see how well Crossfire compares.

Voting for MOD of the Year was easy for me because I know Crossfire gave me a "10" in enjoyment so it's only right to return the favor!

I know the "little" kiddies with their daddies credit cards will follow the high priced toys and will always vote on the newest MODs, based on the toys and action figures in their toyboxes. I feel sorry for the folks who do not know of Freelancer and the Crossfire MODs, for they are missing the best of the best - hands down!

As my Democrat friends tell me - Vote Soon and Vote Often!

Huor,

Thank you for your time and efforts to keep us all on-line and flying the Crossfire Verse. For some, it's like not knowing when Christmas will be this year. For others, it is just a short wait for the next best thing. The update will be here when it's ready and most of us understand that.

What matters the most are contributors like yourself who do whatever you can to make it better for all of us. We, I cannot thank you all enough!

Sincerely,

Franco428
Freelancer Forever!

How do you pay for new layouts and designs?

I have used very few avatars in all the games I play on-line. My Crossfire avatar is a Blue Shield with four white stars arranged in the pattern of the Southern Cross.

This blue shield and four white stars were used by the U.S. Army's Americal Division. The patch's nickname is "Under the Southern Cross." The Americal Division, of the United States Army was activated 27 May 1942 on the island of New Caledonia.[1][2] In the immediate emergency following Pearl Harbor, the United States had hurriedly sent three individual regiments to defend New Caledonia against a feared Japanese attack. This division was the only division formed outside of United States territory during World War II (a distinction it would repeat when reformed during the Vietnam War). At the suggestion of a subordinate, the division's commander, Major GeneralAlexander Patch, requested that the new unit be known as the Americal Division—the name being a contraction of "American, New Caledonian Division". This was unusual, as most U.S. divisions are known by a number. After World War II the Americal Division was officially re-designated as the 23rd Infantry Division. However, it was rarely referred to as such, even on official orders.

The U.S. Army started using the 23rd Infantry Division (ID) right after the alleged "My Lai" massacre done by elements of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade (L.I.B.) of the Americal Division. The units involved were the 1/20th Infantry Regiment (Sykes Regulars); the 4/3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard); the E Troop, 1st Cavalry; and elements from the 156th Aviation Battalion. I met Lt. William Calley once while stationed at Ft. Benning, GA. We just happened to be in the PX Restroom at the same time and I mentioned to him I was in the 4/3rd and knew that My Lai was BS. He said he could not talk about it. All of the soldiers charged in the My Lai Massacre were stationed all over the U.S. pending trial. The famous Life Magazine photo that was admitted as evidence was and actual photo of people who were shot hours before the photographer said "I heard gunfire and turned around and took the photo." He actually heard gunfire but the dead folks had been shot hours before. Even in the Life Mag cover photo the visible wounds were mostly blood-free and dark. New wounds are always bright red bloody from a recently living body. The 11th L.I.B. was basically a search and destroy unit. Most of our maps had "Free Fire Zones" marked clearly on the map, even though the U.S. Government denied they ever had free fire zones. Typical Washington CYA. The Americal Division in Vietnam had three Infantry Brigades: The 11th L.I.B. at Duc Pho, Quang Ngai Provence, RVN; the 196th L.I.B.; and the 198th L.I.B.; were all eventually assigned to the 23rd ID.

Although I can still wear the 11th L.I.B. patch separately, the Americal Patch has much more history. It is a distinctive patch which is readily identified.

It is never a good idea to try to prank a smart five year old. My Grandson was watching me play for several hours with numerous comments and questions. Since he has seen me land a F-14 on an Aircraft Carrier, he was intrigued by the constant "Automatic Landing" feature in Freelancer. I decided to re-play Freelancer without any MODs just for fun - one more time. I spent about an hour landing on every base in the New York System. When I landed on Manhattan for the fifth or sixth time my grandson piped up and asked about landing on the star. I was going to be educational and explain things like heat, gravity and radiation when I got inspiration from an old joke I heard. I told him, "You can only land on a star at night time when it is cooled off." Two days later, I get a call from his school to call his teacher. Seems my grandson was spreading my vast wealth of knowledge to his fellow First Graders. I still haven't called his teacher yet, but I did correct my information to my grandson, who quite frankly told me that "Lying is not nice!"

So the next time I plan to educate my grandson on Space, Rockets, Stars and Planets, I'll used Wiki as a source. I'm still waiting for his teacher to stop by the house and rap my knuckles for telling lies to my grandson.

I can't wait for him to ask about "How Babies are Made?" I think I'll use the "Test tube and lightning bolt" story on him then. Some kids will repeat anything you say or do, so now I only lie to my wife at night!

My Star Citizen Deluxe Hanger. Two Ships and a golf cart to speed you from end to end. I believe it will hold up to ten ships. I plan to sell off my equipment and hanger as soon as I can. My first ship was a Freelancer (Long Duration). My second ship is the Ghost, which is supposed to be able to sneak up on anyone, then blast then and take their cargo...if you were a pirate. Some of you are correct in saying you can use UEE Money to buy and repair ships, but 20,000 UEE credits cost $20. Sooner or later you'll get stuck and HAVE to spend your own money, which is exactly what they planned from the very beginning. What they say and said is different from what they do. Beware before you buy! At this point, I may take a loss just to get clear from Star Citizen. but I'll wait a while. Who knows, I may win the lottery and gift my stuff to someone.

Thank you Cygna for your review. I appreciate your comments.

Best Regards, Franco428

It hasn't been that long ago I read hundreds of posts on the release of Crossfire 1.9. It was like watching a pack of cute puppies jumping around and following the food dishes just about to be place down for them to eat. Every second was agony, yet thrilling - like waiting for the last day of school. Every delay was a personal disaster for some, but when you thought of the final product Crossfire 1.9 MOD - you could feel your mouth watering waiting for that first install. I bet there were several players who messed up their install sequence from being in a hurry. I was probably one of them, but when the screen opened up it was almost too good to be true. Once we started playing 1.9 all the time spent waiting was lost in dust behind us. I cannot remember the wait for 1.7 or 1.8 now.

Some may have advice on how to keep waiting without popping a gasket, when we are truly so close to the next and greatest Crossfire MOD. I gave up drinking 25 years ago so drowning my thoughts of the waiting wasn't going to happen for me. But I did build a workshop in my garage, detailed two vehicles, worked in the garden, played doctor until my wife sent me to the garage, and read a how-to book on fixing my Harley, which came in handy when I rebuilt the forks and swapped out the clutch. But every night I'd pass my office and there sat my triple screen Matrox system just waiting for me to come play. When you spend $4K for a computer system and wind up playing solitaire - you have a problem. I waited as patiently as possible and then it happened. I had a hard drive screech to a halt on my RAID unit. I just knew 1.9 would come out while I was waiting for a replacement drive. I was actually happy it was still in the works. I re-read my Doc Savage series books along with Andre' Norton's Solar Queen series. I did anything that would take my mind off of the pending release date.

The worse part of the release date was getting "to" the download and having it complete before something happened. After two tries - I was a happy man again. Juni was awesome and Trent got ugly tattoos, but the game was on!!!

Even now, while you were reading my above drivel, time passed and you are closer to 2.0 than you were when you started reading.

Patience Grasshopper. Crossfire 2.0 will be here very soon. The team is making sure we all have a game we can play for years to come - and for that I am very thankful!

Having spent years of my life playing: "Elite," "Proto Star," "Privateer," and finally "Freelancer" in its many forms - I am in awe of the work that has been done on each and every MOD for Freelancer. If there are other lives for us to live after this one, my only wish is to be real Freelancer!

Take care and stay safe!

Freelancers Forever!

I just went to the Star Citizen website and was greeted with that design teams hand out for money. Freelancers, I'm telling you they intend to make just under a $100 Million by the time the game actually starts.

But the big money comes in when someone takes your ship and you have to buy a new one. The average price for a good ship is around $130 - give or take a few dollars. The financial forecast after ten years is a "net" profit of $250 to $350 MILLION DOLLARS just from the players who what to upgrade ships, buy weapons, and even buy yourself a Tee-Shirt. They are marketing patches, pins and probably Bronze slag that used to be someone's ship.

Although the concept of play is totally realistic, because you have to consider the loss of your ship, cargo, and weapons...if it cost me $20 to buy everything and play until I'm tired, I'd say it will be a great game. But the cost per person sucks with a capital "S."

I have been playing different Mods of Freelancer and the most I've spent is my time and an occasional donation.

Star Citizen will be a financial success beyond any player's daydreams. But - is it truly worth it in the long run? If you can waste a couple hundred dollars just to buy a ship, hanger and weapons. I say go try it and we will all see you back here within a month or until you are flat broke and three hundred dollars is just too much to start all over again.

The product "Star Citizen" will be utterly fantastic - BUT, it will empty your wallet many times over.

The players who heard about the game early were able to buy ships with "Lifetime Hull Insurance." after the cut-off period, the best you can get is six month insurance, after that you Pay and pay and pay.

I'm my opinion, the game will be great, the profits for Chris Roberts and crew will be even greater, and in the end - they wind up very rich and you, if you are real lucky may find someone to buy your ship so you can come back to Freelancer/Crossfire Mod and play with friends instead of competitors.

Take care, Stay Safe and Shoot Straight & Often!

If I'm waiting to enter a station because of a long line, get tagged and decide to pay the tax / fine. However, since my cargo is worth a lot more than the tax / fine and the bad guy kills me for the cargo, what happens to them? They get away with both? If so, why would anyone not want to be a pirate?

Fellow SWAT members, I often ramble on and on about things that bug me, but this time I have a small idea that some of you may agree with. I'd like to see a box for us to check on any Thread or Reply, except those from our Supreme Operators, that is a recommendation to eliminate that Post. Some posts with obscene content are automatically suppressed as they should be.

A time limit for posts that have little or no value may just make things better. If our fellow readers feel that our post is unworthy of another day on the website, we may have to learn patience and sometimes, basic grammar. Posters have obligations to say it right the first time, but I'm glad we have an Edit Button for our posts/

Questions should be answered with at least five good options. After a hundred recommendations, if the poster hasn't got a clue, he needs to reform his question so we can actually help.

Personal statements that need no reply often get many. A recommendation of a cut-off after 30 days may be useful.

This is something that may have been covered before and a solution decided on. If so, check the box to the right and hope I'm gone in the morning

My best to everyone of you, including the person who sent me a picture of themselves in an Elf costume. I hope it was a costume or I'm gonna be in big trouble with the Little People with my reply!

After several unsuccessful loading attempts of Crossfire 1.9 for my fourth time through the single player game, I decided to flowchart out my installations methods until I got one that worked. After several crashes which I had experienced several times before, I remembered that I had wrote down the loading sequence before. Here is what I discovered: everything worked best when FLMM 1.3 had the extracted Crossfire 1.9 ready to activate. Restart, then make my clean copy of the Microsoft Freelancer Game. Restart again to clean out all unnecessary files. It worked great on both my computers, one running Crossfire 1.9 and the other Frontier 1.75. Cleaning up your workspace before working on anything in or out of a computer seems to take time - but gives you excellent results. I guess the old saying "Do it Right the First Time!" still applies. If the software doesn't work and you are getting frustrated, you are the one making mistakes. Take a deep breath and hold it until you pass out - not really, but there are many great install guides already on file. You cannot strangle the software so it must be you who is the error in your MOD loading. I found out that every time something goes wrong, I'm usually standing close by. So, who's the problem? Not the software, nor the MOD makers...it's that short-cut taking dude in the mirror that is your biggest problem. That's the reason I got rid of all my mirrors! Best of luck to you all! When 2.0 comes out it will be awesome, because of the hours invested and the personal sacrifices made to get it done right the first time. Take your time and save your mirrors!

Many thanks to those of you who have helped in creating MODs for Freelancer. Your ideas help us all to think beyond the box and inspire others to create a Universe of working ideas. All of the things you dream of today become tomorrow's industries. We can never have too many MODs, too many ideas, or too many dreams. When y'all are happy with what you've got at the end of your nose and can see nothing else, we are lost as a civilization. Contrary to some religious concepts, there are no computers on the "Other Side." So enjoy life while you have one.

When the software industry started the "Cloud" concept, they were looking at profits. If you own a piece of "Cloud-based" software, you will never have a hard copy to hold on to. The software companies never again have to buy packages, print labels or burn DVDs. It is all up in the smoke. Personally, I like having a disk in my hand, even if it takes two or three seconds longer to open.

Having worked on computers since 1980, I know that when you put software in a centralized location, you give the hackers an easier target. How will these software companies reimburse us if the cloud is down? If they have thirty million computers connected to an infected cloud, what else do we lose besides our access to that one specific software package?

I saw one recent game where after you bought the game, you had to buy parts, weapons, skin designs and everything else you needed or wanted. The amounts were not great, but over the lifetime of the game, they would have collected a hundred times the initial cost of the game itself. That is BS! Buy the game - play the game, period.

The only reason any software developer is planning to sell you the game a piece at a time is MONEY! They have discovered the techniques of the old scam artists and improved on them so they can make more money while doing less work. They will keep you interested by "NEW" thingy's to buy next week, next month or next year. Keeping you on a Leash because you want to use your own software.

HP put their own software on the hard drive with a backup available on the same drive. They were sued because no one could have a hard copy of the software they bought with the computer. In the end, HP either refunded the cost or sent you a copy of the software. Of course, they made the software so that it would only load on one specific HP computer...or so they thought.

I will rent time on a server if needed, but the software is mine if I buy it. I have a nice collection of software from the Dos 6 era forward. Unfortunately, I had to make room and donated a lot of my old stuff to senior centers and such. The worst thing I ever did was give away my copy of "Elite."

Chris Roberts and others like him are in it for the MONEY. Don't be fooled by sentimental statements and wishes from the past. If you buy software, you better get a hard copy in your hand.

There is a reason we all play Freelancer with many of its MODs. If I could be out in Space flying loads of stuff from one world to another, it would be the best job and greatest adventure of my life. Being able to play at it, takes my mind off of my troubles, my disabilities, my family issues, and scumbag politicians. Whatever your reason, enjoy yourself - either Single-Player or Multi-Player, it is all just for fun!

If I was a farmer, I certainly would not buy a heard of cattle that I could not see nor keep on my land. So why would I buy software that is up in the clouds that I have no physical control over? It is just another money scam! Comments???

Although there have been many Space based games on the market ever since the first two color screens came out. e.g. On my Heathkit H-89, Star Trek was a word game. I created graphics for some of the action scenes which proved that my high school Algebra really was worth the effort. I had to work it out in Assembly Language, so if you're old enough to remember what that is, you'll know it was difficult for a beginner.

When I got my first 4 color display, Elite was the game of the day. With turning space stations that you had to match rotation to land; and energy scoops to collect fuel from the nearest Sun, as long as you didn't get too close.

My 16 color display allowed me to play ProtoStar, which was much like the games of today with a few exceptions. It had a good storyline and missions. One of the better features was the adding of crewmembers to make missions and combat easier. Medic, Engineer and others helped you complete missions. You still had to go into bases and hunt for clues and ask questions, but not so many that you got bored. I always hoped that the adding crewmembers feature would be copied by other game developers, but sadly, that was not to happen.

Wing Commander! What a series. Killing those big Cats was a chore alone with special missions.

When Privateer came out, I made a map and posted it on the bulletin board for other players to download. Only, I added an extra system named after me. I got a lot of mail about how to get to that system and it drove the kiddies nuts. Jump gates and worm holes were few so the bad guys always knew where you would pop out. Privateer was a DOS 6.2 based game and Privateer 2 was a Win95 game. I still keep an old Windows 3.1 system, and a Win95 system just in case I miss the old days. Really old days for some of you, maybe most of you. I played Privateer with every ship and every gun type until I won with each. Not an easy feat I must say, but it kept me from fighting with my soon to be ex-wife.

Between Privateer and Freelancer were many games. Some good, some great and most just aimed at the mentally challenged (my opinion). I never tried StarLancer and from what I heard, that was my loss. But Freelancer started something that was too awesome to ignore. I think I played through the original single player game more than a dozen times. Then I found the MODS! Wow, what a time I had playing them, sometimes all night long - just to finish another one. I settled with two mods, one on each of my two computers in my Man Cave! I was playing both the Frontier and Crossfire MODs because each had something I liked. After a while I went all out with my triple screen set-up and over-sized computer case (for easy upgrades).

With Crossfire 1.8, the writing was on the wall...Freelancer w/ Crossfire MODs were aiming for being the best of the best. So far, I've completed single player versions more than 15 times, each with a different ship and gun load-out. I hope the developers of the future MODs will look back to see what made the old games so good and incorporate those features into new MODs or version updates.

I heard so many good things about 2.0 that I'm drooling, but then I drool when I eat my oatmeal in the mornings and my prunes at night.

I know that 2.0 will be here when it gets here, but the developers have to excuse our impatience and excitement. If we were not so excited, then many folks wasted a lot of their time. From the previews I've seen...no one has wasted one second on the Freelancer / Crossfire 2.0 MOD.

Comments are always welcome, even the ones from the preschoolers.

Best Regards,

Franco428

It would be greatly appreciated if you could send out emails when 2.0 is ready to go. If not possible for everyone, then I suggest you offer the email notifications for a small donation. A bunch of small donations would help all areas where you need funding to complete the project. It would be worth it to me to get notified. Thanks for your time!

If Spikey's avaitar is her real picture, and someone is more concerned with her hair than her eyes, that person has a significant problem. A woman who is kind hearted, good natured and feels good up close, is a winner every time.

Finding a significant other, whether permanent or temporary, who shares in your dreams, love, food likes and dislikes, green or not green living, or whatever...you will enjoy life a whole lot more. My best friend married the cutest girl ever, but she was like the scarecrow...no brain - they're divorced now. Finding a perfect match is easy, but you shouldn't date your sister or your aunt. Finding an great match is what makes life so interesting. We live, we love, we cry, we die. Some make life a burden and suffer through it. Me, I just want to age gracefully without having to grow up.

If CF is around in ten years, so will many of us. Now, if they start selling 3-D displays with sensory feedback, I may have to stick around for even longer...

..."short curly hair"... Who cares. She's here, she plays and she sounds like a very nice person.

I heard back from Matrox and they said I could get the game to work if I used the nine screen solution.

Had to laugh at that one. They just want to sell me more stuff. Maybe when I retire for good.

My old 32" plasma monitor was great, but it was too warm in my game room with that thing running all the time.

I had a image of an Outcast lady who was standing sideways. Her "equipment" covered one full screen. I'll keep trying to get the images to merge. It would be easy if the controls had a left-front, front and right-front views.

The image below is a Winter sceen from my flight sim.

When I saw your Chimay beers I was thrilled. I've been to the monastery and the bottles were much smaller back then. The Chimay Black label was potent. All of the beers had sediment in the bottom of the bottles - you learned not to finish the bottle all the way. Looks like they've made a lot of changes in the brewing and bottling of Chimay.

I lived in Jemappes, Mons (Bergen), Belgium from '78 to '81. I was stationed at SHAPE HQ. I used to go to the Brussels once a week on business. The Butte d'Lion in Waterloo was a favorite first stop on the way to Brussels.

Brussels is the most awesome city ever! I was always taking friends and guests to the Grand Place and other sights. To the left of the Hotel d'Ville, about 100 meters, is a restaurant on the left of the small street that serves the best mussels ever. In the opposite direction was a bunch of lace shops and the manikin pis statue. I do miss the chocolate shops and the people.

There is a little park just to the Northwest of the Justice Palace with an "X" pathway through the middle. The fence around the park has little statues of all the professions in Belgium (e.g. Baker, carpenter, blacksmith, etc.). It was one of my favorite places to relax.

Thanks for the memory flashback of the Chimay beer and Brussels!